gary monroe aps 2014 photographer of the year searching for...

American Penstemon Society Newsletter—Volume 8 Number 3—Summer 2014—

N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E A M E R I C A N P E N S T E M O N S O C I E T YVolume No. 8, Issue No. 3—http://apsdev.org—Late Summer-Early Fall 2014

American Penstemon SocietyRecap of Annual Meeting 2014 Zion National Park

Mikel Stevens, 2014 Meeting Chair, Walt Fertig, Co-Chair

From the PresidentThe annual meeting based in Springdale UT

was a huge success. No one can say they did not see an abundance of penstemons, as well as other wildflowers. The hikes offered amazing views of Zion National Park and the surrounding areas north and west of the park. The meeting was well orga-nized and ran smoothly, thanks to Mikel Stevens, Walt Fertig and their hard-working committee. Many members of the Utah Native Plant Soci-ety co-hosted the meeting, providing guides who

shared not only their knowledge of the local flora, but also of the local history, geology and culture. I’m convinced that co-hosting with a native plant society adds tremendously to the educational ex-perience for everyone as well as connecting people from two groups who have a love for the outdoors, travel and plants.

Table of ContentsFrom the President .......................................1The Tour From Zion To Bryce

National Parks With APS, 2014 ..............2Side Trip:

Hunting Penstemon franklinii ...............10Great Penstemon Detective Game .............122014 APS Board of Directors Meeting ......13Why Plantaginaceae instead of

Scrophulariaceae? ..................................15New APS Members Since April

Newsletter .............................................16New Life Members ....................................16Membership Renewal ................................17Reminder from the SeedEX .......................18Ghiglieri/Strickland Penstemon

Trip Photos ............................................20

THE PENSTEMANIACGary Monroe APS 2014 Photographer of the Year searching for Penstemon franklinii (Photo G. Maffitt)

Opuntia polyacantha—plains pricklypear (Photo G. Maffitt)

http://apsdev.org


The Tour From Zion To Bryce National Parks With APS, 2014

By Ginny Maffitt

Springdale, Utah is a lovely little town sur-rounded on three sides by the high palisades of Zion National Park. Large shade trees and lovely floriferous gardens line the street along with entic-ing shops and restaurants. Our motel consisted of one and two-story buildings surrounded by lawns with picnic tables and large shade trees—lovely after warm days of hiking.

Since we didn’t want to miss any of the daily trips planned for the APS annual meeting, we ar-rived on Thursday after the Penstemon franklinii search. Friday morning, my husband John and I took the East Rim Trail hike through the center of the park. We were joined by John Weiser and Gary Monroe of Sparks, NV, my fellow desert rats from the previous day who stayed almost next door.

May 16, Friday: East Rim Trail Hike

A free town shuttle bus runs every 15 minutes to the gates of the park. There, a few minutes’ walk leads to park-run electric shuttles that seemed to appear every 7-8 minutes at the park’s many stops along the East Rim hike. A recorded voice gives

For those of us who “collect” penstemons on our life list, we saw the endemic P. humilis var. obtusifolius, (Zion penstemon), P. caespitosus, P. pinorum, P. petiolatus, P. laevis, P. confusus, and hundreds of P. palmeri. On our way to Zion, I think Marcia and I saw P. caespitosus var. desertipictum. One plant that was a real treat to see was Lewi-sia brachycalyx growing in west Zion where few tourists venture. Not necessarily on the A-list for penstemaniacs was Opuntia polyacantha x basilaris hybrids, which were blooming in the same area in an old burn by the hundreds in bright oranges, pinks, yellows and whites on the Kolob Terrace

roadside. I saw many cars filled with APS members slam on their brakes, pull over, jump out and run to the opuntias to get images (we did it twice, once on the way up and once on the way down).

Our next meeting is scheduled July 10-13, 2015 and will be based out of Chico CA. Day trips will take us into the Sierra foothills east of Chico. Detailed information on the meeting and the trips is coming soon.

Hope to see all of you there.

Randy TatroePresident, APS

P. palmeri swarming down steep bank in Zion NP. (G. Maffitt)

Gary Monroe, John Weiser, & John Maffitt at Virgin River, Zion NP


P. eatonii, east rim trail, Zion NP. (Photo G. Maffitt)

history, geology, fauna and flora lore on the way up, but is nicely silent on the return trip. Folks hopped on and off for the museum, lodge and var-ious hiking trails with intriguing names. Private vehicles were allowed to drive only to a certain point as is mostly done in national parks now.

Our first stop was at the Weeping Wall hike where many plants were clearly labeled on this some-times crowded stroll. We began to run into ‘pen-stemon’ friends as we walked the other side trails, sharing tips on what to look for. The oddest sight was a swamp beside the trail with tall horsetails in the water—and flat-leaved cacti growing there as well! The most staggering sight is that of the sheer rocks rising on all sides in various hues of rust, gold and the near-white of the Navaho layer. The buses had roof vents so the peaks could be better seen. These peaks were given names with heavenly connotations by the early Mormon settlers who first explored the area such as The Great Throne and Angel’s Landing.

It also was surprising to see water-loving spe-cies such as maiden-hair fern (Adiantum capillus-veneris) in various seeps, plus the scarlet mon-keyflower (Mimulus cardinalis) that ranges as far as the Pacific N.W. Other surprises seen on the Weeping Wall trail cliffs were yellow columbine, (Aquilegia chrysantha), its peachy-colored hybrid with A. fosteri,and the Zion shooting-star (Dode-catheon pulchellum variety zionensis) with 10-12” leaves. The Weeping Rock is an overhanging blind arch which ‘rains’ constantly due to spring water seeping from 100 feet overhead. It takes nearly

1000 years to perco-late through the porous Navajo sandstone down past the less-porous Kayenta sandstone layer, to constantly rain on observers below.

The Saturday tour group, led by Becca Lieberg with the Park Service, went up a side-trail above the Weeping

Rock and found cerise forms of Penstemon x ‘jonesii’, a hybrid of P. eatonii var. undosus and P. laevis. (I’ll just use “P.” for penstemon now in the article) Since various colorations of this hybrid were seen in

several areas, there is speculation it is caused by back-crossing with one parent (per Mikel Stevens). Brilliantly fire-engine red with rounded evergreen leaves, P. eatonii was found along the main trail on sandy slopes. P. palmeri var. eglandulosus was seen in masses of plants on steep, rocky open hillsides. It is hard to pass by without a sniff of its large, soft-pink flowers with the honey-suckle fragrance. It has three varieties of which two grow locally. I photographed pubescent (hairy) corollas of the variety palmeri at the park entrance which likely means it was imported by landscapers.

That evening was our first gathering at the very modern Canyon Community/Library Center in Springdale. A light meal was served as members

Cactus in swamp in des ert (Photo G. Maffitt)

P. x’Jonesii’ (Photo Steve Dahl


got acquainted. Dr. Walt Fertig (co-chair of this year’s meeting) gave an overview of the various trips for members, including the optional Monday tour north as far as Red Canyon near Bryce NP. He also wrote the very useful key to the 24 penste-mons we might see on the trips…thank you, Walt! He is an old acquaintance of those who came to the Laramie APS 2012 trip and was an informative and patient (with identifying many species) guide. Currently Walt is collections manager for digital data and lichens at the Arizona State University Herbarium. He also led field trips for all three days. He was introduced by Mikel Stevens, the other co-chair and chief instigator of this year’s trip. Many thanks are owed to Mikel for all the work he did while working fulltime and traveling for Brigham Young U. and to his wife Jolynn who prepared the very complete packets!

May 17, Saturday: Wildcat Trail Hike; Upper West Rim Trail Hike

On Saturday, I joined a group led by Steve Dahl, a retired pharmacist who lives nearby in Kanab and visits the park almost weekly. He seemed interested in learning more of the plants from our group as the geology is his principal interest. The group, limited to 12 by park regula-tions, drove almost to the East entrance, to take the Wildcat Trail Hike. The drive involved going through two tunnels, one of which was a mile long, nicely lighted by two open arches to relieve any incipient claustrophobia. While stopping at the first, short tunnel to admire sand verbena and eve-ning primrose, we spotted a five-member big-horn sheep family which slowly ascended to a high rim. Another stop netted us a lovely grouping of purple P. laevis with glowing violet stems growing under a large pine. This is one of the parent species of P. x ‘jonesii’.

The Wildcat hike followed a slowly rising trail edged with pines and incredibly-formed rocks. Among the pink-shaded Phlox longifolia, central plains prickly-pear cactus, Opuntia polyacantha, and tufted evening primrose (Oenothera caespi-

Penstemon pachyphyllus v congestus, Wildcat Trail. (Photo G. Maffitt)

Penstemon laevis (Photo G. Maffitt)


tosa), were many tall, single-stemmed P. pachyphyllus var. congestus in a stunning deep-blue. This species can vary to a violet color which we found on variety mucronatus on the 2010 trip to NW Colorado. Just before entering the long tunnel on the return trip, Steve pointed out a P. x ‘jonesii’ hanging down a rock face in a place impossible to stop. On our optional Monday trip, we were able to get into a parking area and photograph this elusive hybrid. This was a half-day hike, so we returned for lunch and to regroup for a trip west of the park out Kolob Terrace Road to Lava

Point and upper West Rim Trail.Walt Fertig was our guide for this outing, plus

his protégé, Dan McConnell, an enthusiastic bota-nist working for the National Park Service updat-ing the park plant list. On this really level trail, we saw no penstemons, but a nice patch of tiny white Lewisia brachycalyx and a 3-4’ long gopher snake,

with bright markings after a recent skin shedding. At Lava Point, it was just too early yet for the P. higginsii to bloom, but Dan found a horned lizard for me to admire. In 2003 Dr. Noel Holmgren de-clared P. higginsii a species separate from P. leon-ardii. It is lavender with flaring petals and many crowded stems of medium sized flowers.

The annual banquet featured a short busi-ness meeting led by President Randy Tatroe. The keynote speaker was Noel Holmgren discussing “Penstemons of Zion NP”. He showed photos grouped into the three subgenera (out of five) found here, Subgenus Penstemon, Habroanthus and Saccanthera. In his long career in botany, he devoted a great deal of time to this large genus and spent possibly the largest share of field sur-vey time in Utah, subsequently finding new many species or re-organizing their names and standing. He continues working with his wife Patricia, both emeritus from the New York Botanical Garden, on the publication of Volume VIII of Intermountain Flora and conducting a review and re-collection of the fifty (50) penstemons of Oregon for the Oregon State University herbarium.

May 18, Sunday: Long Loop DriveSunday was my day to go on the really long

180 mile+ day trip to Cedar City, Old Iron Town, Snow Canyon and Beaver Dam Mountain. I trav-

Checkerboard Mtn., Zion NP on road to east exit (G. Maffitt)

Horned lizard caught by Dan (Photo G. Maffitt)


eled with the Holmgrens and Beth Corbin, an-other savvy botanist with BLM whose example I followed with more extensive note-taking. The first stop was at Sand Hollow Reservoir to see P. ambiguous var. laevissimus, the sand dune bush penstemon which is white petaled with a violet tube. Found on rolling golden dunes just above the reservoir, we skirted under fences along dirt roads where boys roared by on all-terrain vehicles. The flat-faced flowers are notably different than many penstemons appearing to float in the air on thin wiry stems. Eriogonum wallacei and fasciculatum and Oenothera pallida var pallida were blooming in this arid spot. It was an odd juxtaposition of the dry lands above the blue reservoir.

Moving along to Beaverdam Pass, we saw various color forms of P. palmeri var eglandulosus, the glabrous one. It was surprising to see the large shrub Fremont’s mahonia (Mahonia fremontia), with tiny holly-like leaves normally seen in south-ern CA. White-stemmed frasera, (Swertia albicau-lis,) was last seen on an outing at the west edge of

the Great Basin near Burns, OR. Narrowleaf Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon angustifolius), a white form, was also seen here; it has many medicinal prop-erties (such as stopping diarrhea) discovered by native peoples from CA to OR.

Skirting along the edge of the Mohave Desert near Castlerock, we drove up a gravel road onto a ranch, now publicly owned to see the really rare P. petiolatus. Hiking up a dry wash amid purple Psorothamnus fremontii and rare blooming Agave utahensis, we climbed a hill comprised of lime-stone, to find the penstemon growing from its minute cracks. Just touching the rock led to pain-ful scratches; one wondered how a plant that looks so fragile exists in this harsh environment. Other rarities grew nearby such as yellow-flowering Buddleja utahensis with downy white indumentum protecting it from brutal sunlight. A well-protected cactus, the rare Nealoydia johnsonia was gingerly skirted by hikers; a shrubby mint with inflated seed pods was an unusual find.

A final three-penstemon stop capped a wonder-ful day of seeing so many unusual species. Along a gravel roadside near Newcastle, UT, within a few minutes’ walk, we admired many plants of P. pi-norum, P. confusus and P. caespitosus var. desert-pictii. The latter presented itself as flat green pads among unremarkable greenery with ½” long, blue bells laying above the tiny, silvery oval leaves. These are also found in the Red Rock Canyon area just west of the entrance to Bryce NP. Since its ele-vation there is above 7000’, they weren’t blooming in that area. P. confusus has large, gaping pink bells above glaucous, channeled foliage. This species

Mikel Stevens organizing group at Sand Hollow. Wild Buck-wheat in foreground. (Photo G. Maffitt)

Penstemon ambiguus v laevissimus, Sand Hollow Reservoir. (Photo G. Maffitt)


was last seen on larger plants during the APS Ely, NV trip at Sacramento Pass and a few other places. P. pinorum is a tiny rare species with oddly ser-rate, bright green leaves and deeply purple flowers scattered among the P. confusus under pine trees. It was first discovered in 1983 along this road in the Pine Valley Mts. in Iron Co. UT and formally declared a species in 1985.

The grand finale of the long day’s drive was

a stop at the pie shop in Veyo which had freshly-made pies from chocolate, coconut to very berry delights. We sat on picnic benches or the sidewalk against the building, enjoying the shade and our yummy deserts.

May 19, Monday; Johnson Canyon Bonus Trip

The last day of the meeting took us north out of Zion NP with a much smaller group in about five vehicles. While I’m very glad John and I went along, it wasn’t for the faint of heart. At Mt. Carmel Junction east of the park, we turned north

onto Highway 89 after stopping for cold refresh-ments along with a huge tour bus full of tourists. Only about 10 miles to the north at the tiny town of Glendale, we shifted into those vehicles with high clearances and turned east onto 15 miles of well-graded gravel road. Not trusting our low-bodied sedan on the 15 miles of graveled road, John and I joined Walt in his trusty truck, followed by the other intrepid explorers, Mikel and JoLinn Stevens, their son-in-law Matt, Stephen and Monaquita Love, Andi Wolfe and Patty Colville and her sister Gene Barbour. Later that day, we discovered that Patty and Gene were checked into the same motel in Tropic!

Penstemon petiolatus (Photo ©2014_Andi_Wolfe_-_all_rights_reserved.)

P. pinorum (Photo G. Maffitt)

P. confusus (Photo Steve Dahl)


Parking in a shady grove, we hiked across a dry wash and along a stabilized sand dune that was solid rock on the north end and still semi-shifting sand on the south. At its base, we ran across P. lae-vis again and then the rare sand-loving penstemon, P. ammophilus, the day’s target species. With only a few individuals found at the base of the rock, the more adventurous hikers followed Mikel and Walt mostly straight uphill across really shifting sand underfoot. The view at the top became spectacular and so did the number of P. ammophilus, which is remarkable for the shining sand-grains cover-ing the leaves and much-thickened stems. A picnic lunch up there provided scenery and great rock formations in all directions, plus another unusual species for the area, a yellow flax, Linum subterres. It was a surprise to see the blue columbine, Aqui-legium scopularum, on that dry slope along with yellow-blooming showy stone seed, Lithospermum incisum.

Turning east onto Highway 12, we stopped to see P. bracteatus D.D.Keck. It was named fairly recently in 1987 and is endemic to the area liv-

ing in lime scree. Possibly my personal favorite penstemon of the trip, its deep purple/blue bells were nestled in purple-edged ovate leaves, all lying close to the ground. Only two were blooming in the beds, likely warmed by the building walls. We

then drove down a gravel road to the south, but the tiny plants weren’t blooming yet away from the warm building. Mikel and Andi drove another 15 miles and did find lavender-blue, densely-glandular foliaged P. atwoodii blooming. We

did find the charming spidery-foliaged sand lilies, Androstephium breviflorum, in flower. While we were search-ing, we were joined by the Holmgrens who had spent the day searching out familiar places from their plant survey days. We made plans for din-ner together at the Ruby Inn that evening, joined by Patty and Gene ‘dis-covered’ at our motel.

On Tuesday, I ticked off a wish on my bucket list by joining the ladies

to walk to the bottom of one section of Bryce Canyon to wander among the amazing golden and apricot rock Hoodoos found there. It was the per-fect finale for a most perfect American Penstemon Society annual meeting.

Stephen and Monaquita Love, Mikel Stevens, Walt Fertig, John Maffitt gathering to climb huge dune (Photo G. Maffitt)

P. ammophilus high on dune (Photo G. Maffitt)


Bibliography: texts used to identify the numerous wildflowers encountered.

www.USDA/plants My go-to place for photos, states, counties where growing, current names, etc.

“Capitol Reef Wildflowers”, D. Clark, pur-chased at Capitol Reef NP visitor center, 2009

“Great Basin Wildflowers, A Guide to Com-mon Wildflowers of the High Deserts of NV, UT and OR” L. Blackwell, Falcon Guide Publishers, 2006, purchased at Great Basin NP visitor center.

“Intermountain Flora Vol. IV” Vascular Plants of the Intermountain West, USA”, 1984, Cronquist, Holmgren (Art, Pat & Noel), and Re-veal, which covers the Family Scrophulariaceae, including penstemons as known up to that year.

Plant hunters above striated sandstone (Photo G. Maffitt)

P. bracteatus at Red Canyon VC (Photo G. Maffitt)

Androstephium beviflorum, sand lilies, Red Canyon area (Photo G. Maffitt)

Aquilegia scopulorum, Red Rocks VC (Photo G. Maffitt)

http://plants.usda.gov/java/


Side Trip: Hunting Penstemon franklinii

By Ginny Maffitt

Some years ago, I grew a penstemon which was purportedly P. franklinii, bought from a seed company. The one plant that germinated bloomed vigorously for about 4 years, which was likely my first tip that it was a ringer! What self-respecting near-desert Utah native would like growing in a trough in the damp Pacific Northwest. Flowers are a lovely deep blue with small bells, but with spatu-late leaves, not the linear, rolled leaves of the true P. franklinii. After finally figuring that out from less-than-helpful photos online, I really wanted to see the true species. It was listed on Mikel Stevens’ itinerary for this year’s penstemon annual meeting, but he said that it wouldn’t be on the group tours as another hour’s driving would be added and likely the plants would not be blooming.

I mentioned this to Gary Monroe (Sparks, NV), who takes excellent photos often shown on the federal Department of Agriculture plant web-site (www.usda/plants) and the CalFlora site. He was really enthused about making the side trip on our own. Gary and John Weiser (Sparks, NV) were traveling together, and we decided to meet

in Iron County, UT, on the Thursday before the meeting began. We had the GPS waypoints, and Gary printed a map using Google Earth. Since our second day’s driving began in Burley, ID, I didn’t think my husband and I would make it to the meet-ing spot in time, but Utah’s 80 mph speed limit got us there exactly at 2 pm. My husband (also John) dropped me at the chosen meeting spot to go check in at our Springdale motel, and off we went into the sagebrush.

Since the plant is rare in Utah, I won’t give specific roads or directions. Not many miles out in the brush, John ordered the car to stop “now!” as he was seeing bluish pads of some species perhaps Eriogonum, which turned out to be E. shockleyi,Shockley’s buckwheat which is found in several S.W. states. We began roving, admir-ing the non-blooming silvery-leaved pads. When blooming, the species has almost stemless white bloom clusters that turn orange after pollination. While the gentlemen began photographing them, I kept wandering and ran across little plants about fist-sized with rolled (channeled) leaves! Eureka, P. franklinii was found at that first stop with no GPS coordinates. The species apparently had never been reported at this site. The largest plant had buds showing a tantalizing blue color, but was likely a week away from opening. We saw about 20 indi-viduals in this area.

Driving on, following the GPS coordinates onto another road, we turned onto a little dirt road and began walking again. Gary’s GPS kept show-ing that we should go this way and that. Later, he realized that it should have been re-calibrated every 500 miles of distance traveled, so it was not being helpful. However, we didn’t know that, so kept walking. There were blooming Castilleja angustifolia var. flavescens, Northwest Indian paint brush’, formerly chromosa, Townsendia incana, ‘hoary Townsend daisy; plus Erigeron and Astragalus species to admire. Then I began to see coral-colored cactus flowers on plants the size and shape of green golf balls, which were new to me. John instantly recognized them as Genus Sclerocactus. Gary even had a book with them pictured as Sclerocactus blainei. He had been chas-

P. (affinity to) franklinii, near-blooming; note tiny teeth on rolled leaves, Iron Cty.,UT (Photo G. Maffitt)

http://www.usda/plants


ing Sclerocactus nyensis to photograph on a trip in Nevada the previous weekend, so was familiar with the genus.

The current nomenclature is S. spinosier ssp blainei, although the local native plant societies prefer it as a full species, [syn: S. blainei]. They are found only in Nye and Lincoln Counties, NV, and Iron County, UT. The colonies are about 110 km apart with no known intermediate groups. Listed as G1G2Q; S1 (global and state listings), this means they are a very at-risk species. They are recogniz-able by the ferocious flattened, recurved spines. We saw fairly young plants; perhaps a dozen in the area. We never did find P. franklinii there even though Gary had GPS coordinates showing it was perhaps a mile away. We were content that we

already had found new colonies of that species and the Sclerocactus that day.

To research the cactus species, type in its name and then open www.cactus-art.biz. The site has

the most information and photos from Fred White, who is the local ‘watch-dog’ for the species. He seemed rather surprised when I contacted him regarding the current name, but was pleased that it had been found by people only interested in photo-graphing, not stealing, it. Gary Monroe’s message is that if sites are found which sell the species, please don’t buy one. In Europe, because they’re small, plants sell for a lot, but are only available because of decimation of the two known colonies. Sclerocactus nyensis was known only from three very small areas in Nevada. One had been found by cactus hunters and dug up. Now there are only two sites.

Our side-trip turned out to be a two-for-one bo-nus of locating some of the rarest species in Utah.

P. franklinii, archive photo by Mikel Stevens

John Weiser finding Eriogonum shockleyi pads. (Photo G. Maffitt)

http://www.cactus-art.biz/


Great Penstemon Detective GameWin some bragging rights by being the first to

figure out John Weiser’s lovely mystery penstemon species immediately below, growing happily in his Sparks garden. He wrote: “I’ve puzzled over this plant’s identity for three years with no suc-cess. Perhaps the members can solve it for me. It is about 15 cm tall; leaves and stems are densely pubescent with short hairs. The corolla is 12.5 mm long.”

One of the photos shows nearly mature an-thers which hang downwards almost in paral-lel so it likely is found in Subgenus Penstemon. Find photos on his Flickr account at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sierrarainshadow/sets/72157639703294426/.”

We’re printing one of his photos here for our ‘hard-copy’ members.

Please send your answer to http://mysteryplant.wordpress.com addressed to the BLOG under the members’ section.

Mystery penstemon (Photo John Weiser)

Sclerocactus spinosier ssp blainei from Iron Countyu, UT (Photo G. Maffitt)

Mystery penstemon (Photo John Weiser)

P. atwoodii (20140520-5D_36994-©2014_Andi_Wolfe_-_all_rights_reserved.jpg)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sierrarainshadow/sets/72157639703294426/



http://mysteryplant.wordpress.com

http://mysteryplant.wordpress.com


2014 APS Board of Directors MeetingMay 16, 2014

AGENDA – Springdale UTAttended: Mary Cunningham, Noel H. Holmgren, Patricia Holmgren, Dale Lindgren, Stephen Love, Ginny Maffit, Mary

Mastin, Phoebe McFarland, Hugh McMillan, Randy Tatroe, Mikel Stevens, Libby Wheeler, and Andi Wolfe, Lupita Wesseler, recording secretary.

Randy welcomed the group and brought the meeting to order at 2:15 pm.Old Business: 1. Status of 501(c)(3) filing – Mary Cunningham, APS Treasurer, presented the report.2. Fund-raising via annual meetings – Pending 501(c)(3) filing.3. Scholarships for meeting attendance –Andi Wolfe moved to establish student scholarship awards. There was some dis-

cussion of criteria for the awards. Recommendations were that students have to be studying Penstemons, students pres-ent information as a requirement, or present a poster. The motion was amended by Andi to establish a travel award for students to attend the meeting, one would be for local students, waiving of meeting fees and one would be for defraying travel expenses. Andi will work with other APS university faculty to draft a proposal with parameters for the scholar-ship to send to the board for approval. The motion was approved. Grant funding amount would be amended to increase by at least $1,500 to cover the awards.

4. Ornamental Plant Germplasm Center – Andi Wolf - This would be a separate effort from our seed exchange and an op-portunity to preserve species seed for posterity. This is a USDA facility for preserving germplasm as a way of propa-gating seed or tissues that are part of the academic environment or have to do with research. Members would be given access to the Germplasm bank for seeds. Horticulturists and seed companies would be given access to the Germplasm. The Germplasm bank would be responsible for propagating the seed to replenish the seed supply and make sure it al-ways is there. Andi sees this as a way to augment our seed exchange. Members could contribute seed to the Germplasm in addition to our seed exchange. The most useful seed stock is wild collected seed with proper identification and a GPS location. Our Seed Exchange Coordinator would set aside some of the seed from our seed exchange and send into the Germplasm.. This would be a worthwhile collaboration effort to support Penstemon species. Members need to abide by permitting restrictions on collection of endangered species. Project will help ensure protection of species. There is not a minimum quantity of seed to submit. There are diminishing species that would benefit from seed being collected and submitted to the Germplasm. July would be a good time to get the information out. Pablo Jourdan is the contact. Andi will contact him to see if he can write an article for the newsletter.

5. Update on FNA Vol. 17 – Pat and Noel Holmgren–Update on Flora of North America. Holmgrens said publication has been delayed. He had planned on Penstemon janishii being the frontice piece, but has been doing a lot of research on Penstemon grahmii, which is closely related so it will be the new frontice piece for Vol. 17. Bob Pennington and Gary Monroe may have images for artist Angell.

Reports:1. Treasurer Mary Cunningham discussed and passed out her report earlier in the meeting2. Membership Report: Dale Lindgren and Phoebe Mc Farlane: - Paypal use is picking up as means of payment. Mary

Cunningham had to get a credit card as a back-up to transfer funds from account.3. Annual Meeting – 3 yr- Planning possibilities a. 2015 – Andi Wolfe - California Meeting next year - Shannon Detweiler Saturday and Sunday field trips in June in

the Sierra Nevada Mts. to the Feather River Canyon, a butterfly botanical area. Penstemon azureus, heterophyllus, newberryi are among those to be seen. Visit to Weaver Bally and- Trinity Alps for the Sunday Trip

b. 2016 - Montana - Patricia Holmgren - SW Montana - Need to coordinate with Montana Native Plant Society. Date likely is June 24th-26th at the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort which is being very cooperative; rooms accommodate 200. Catherine Kennedy is the contact. Need to commit $250. We will get a check into the mail.

c. 2017 Flagstaff – Talking to Tina Aires - Planning a meeting document, need to update and improve instructions. There is the Flagstaff Botanical Garden and Arboretum.

d. Meeting Planning Document – Need to update regularly e. Newsletter – Ginny Maffitt: - Need to recruit a new publisher to begin in January, 2015.


4. Bulletin/Photo Contest – Stephen Love: Changing method to put pictures with articles. We’ll pay $913 dollars for 84 pages this year for publishing the annual Bulletin. Photo contest – Last year went to the photographer of the year. Gary Monroe receives the award this year. Stephen will go ahead and do the bulletin again this coming year. Andi suggested an article from Erin Winslow on P. caespitosis and its varieties.

5. Round Robin - Libby Wheeler: Everyone writes a summer letter in September with pictures sent by email. There cur-rently are 6 members.

6. Seed Exchange – Louise Parsons: Income was $284.50 after expenses, Postage $58.73, Net income: $180.87 New Business:1. Need to recruit new Newsletter publisher. Ginny’s friend is currently using Adobe InDesign 6 to publish. It was agreed

that we would purchase MS Word for the newsletter publisher so that they can publish in the future. Randy approve purchase of software for editor Ginny Maffit.

2. Mary Mastin moved that as of this meeting that the president or his designee be allowed to approve appropriate expen-ditures that are time sensitive up to $500. Stephen seconded the motion. All approved.

3. Need a “How to put on annual meetings” packet. Stephen has a copy of the very latest from 2013. He’ll send it to Andi and Patricia.

4. Special Projects Grant - Dorothy Tuthill: Process for analyzing proposals in 3 categories -Public Gardens (11 Appli-cants), Basic Research (5 Applicants), Horticulture Research (2 Applicants) with ranking of criteria. There were 18 applicants total.Public Gardens - Dunsmir California received $630Public Gardens - Salvador Santa Fe received $820Basic Research – Van Wyk – received $1,000Horticultural Research – Ryan Contreras, OregonSU - $750Horticultural Research – Stephen Love, Idaho State - $750

Andi commented that funding need for research will continue to rise. It was discussed that we need to add contribution options for research. It was moved and approved that for everything that requires a fee that we have a mechanism on website to donations for APS Grants Program and have some sort of identification of what you can donate your money to posted on our website. Membership materials would need to be updated. Mary suggested increasing fees slightly to cover research. Set a minimum of $80/person. Request for proposals for APS Grants Program comes through email. Can be added to our website. Hardcopy membership materials need to be included. Will keep $4,000 as next years grant program and $1,500 for student travel.

5. Webmaster – Hugh McMillan – Current efforts a. He will begin a new APS Web redesign with a clear format modeled after the Rock Garden Society featuring a new

Membership Portal, set permissions for board members’ access and tools listed in the write-up. b. Moved and seconded to cover his Hosting Expense — $72/yr Site Ground 3 yr contract c. Rebuilding Database to allow multi-criteria data search will take 3 to 4 months Membership marketing – Randy: brought up that reaching out to other plant societies is important to APS membership.

Ginny Maffit recently put on a class that helped to give exposure to APS. Working with Master Gardeners is an oppor-tunity to generate interest. Randy asked Lupita to write an article for Newsletter. Need to check with Louise on excess seed available to support outreach activities.

Nominating Committee Appointments – Mary Mastin will be the chair of the committee. There is a small group of people who go on voluntarily. Bylaws say the year runs from January to December. Voting online isn’t helpful as the response is very low. Mary will send an online voting list for the five positions and update Randy with the results.

Penstemon Blog – Andi looking for contributors to assist with Penstemon of Day series on her website, “News from Andi Wolfe’s Lab”.

Adjourned at 4:13 pmLupita Wesseler

Secretary


Why Plantaginaceae instead of Scrophulariaceae?Andi Wolfe, Department of EEOB, Ohio State University

Penstemon was moved from Scrophulariaceae to Plantaginaceae more than a decade ago (Olm-stead et al. 2001), but not everyone is happy with the new family affiliation of this lovely genus. Af-ter all, Penstemon flowers look a lot more similar to those of Scrophularia than Plantago. However, names of plants follow a strict set of rules estab-lished by the international scholarly community, and with the overwhelming evidence presented from several molecular systematics studies, Pen-stemon has been shown to be more closely related to Plantago than Scrophularia.

The “Disintegration of the Scrophulariaceae” paper (Olmstead et al. 2001) changed the taxono-my of many families within the order Lamiales, to which Scrophulariaceae belongs. Familiar plants that have been transferred from Scrophulariaceae are parasitic plants such as Castilleja and Pedicu-laris, which now are in Orobanchaceae, and Mimu-lus, which is now part of Phrymaceae (Beardsley & Olmstead 2002). The Olmstead et al. (2001) study presented a phylogeny (tree of evolutionary relationships) based on three gene sequences from representatives of 24 tribes of Scrophulariaceae, as it was originally designated, together with repre-sentatives of 15 other families of Lamiales. The phylogeny revealed that members of Cheloneae, the tribe to which Penstemon belongs, were not part of the clade to which Scrophularia belongs. Subsequent work supported the reclassification of Penstemon as part of Plantaginaceae (Bremer et al. 2002; Albach et al. 2005; Oxelman et al. 2005).

“Scrophulariaceae” were so confusing be-cause there were no morphological characters that uniquely defined the family. It was a catchall for genera that couldn’t definitely be placed in other families, and it was recognized as problematic from the mid-1800s onward. With the redefinition of Scrophulariaceae to include mostly Old World genera from the southern hemisphere, seed, em-bryo and leaf characteristics provide defining char-acteristics for this revised family. The same cannot

be said for the redefined Plantaginaceae in that it is still a family with much variation across the gen-era (Albach et al 2005), including aquatic plants, alpine genera, shrubs, small annuals, etc. Never-theless, the family to which Penstemon belongs is now Plantaginaceae.

Literature citedAlbach DC, Meudt HM, Oxelman B (2005) Piec-

ing together the “new” Plantaginaceae. Ameri-can Journal of Botany 92, 297-315.

Beardsley PM, Olmstead RG (2002) Redefining Phrymaceae: the placement of Mimulus, tribe Mimuleae and Phryma. American Journal of Botany 89m 1093-1102.

Bremer B, Bremer K, Heidari N, Erixon P, Olm-stead RG, Anderberg AA, Källersjö M, Bark-hordarian E (2002) Phylogenetics of asterids based on 3 coding and 3 non-coding chloro-plast DNA markers and the utility of non-cod-ing DNA at higher taxonomic levels. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 24, 274-301.

Olmstead RG, dePamphilis CW, Wolfe AD, Young ND, Elisens WJ, Reeves PJ (2001) Disintegra-tion of the Scrophulariaceae. American Journal of Botany 88, 348-361.

Oxeman B, Kornhall P, Olmstead RG, Bremer B (2005) Further disintegration of Scrophularia-ceae. Taxon 54, 411-425.

P. caespitosus var. desertipicti, Pine Valley Road (Photo G. Maffitt)


New APS Members Since April Newsletter Ana Zacarias Correa, Morelia, Mexico

Mathew Horton, Wein, AustriaTizer Botanic Gardens, Jefferson City, MT

Kevin Pykkonen, Arvada, COJennifer VanWyk, Davis, CAJessmine Finch, Evanston, ILChad Miller, Manhattan, KS

Anne Casey, Pueblo West, COTodd Tietsort, Portland, OR

Betsy Knaak, Anza-Borrego Natural History Assn, CAWilliston Research Extension Center, ND

Robert Johnson, Provo, UTBarb Bentzin & Bob Montgomery, Casper, WY

Jim Case, Cedar City, UTCharlotte Eberlein, Twin Falls, IDPamela Quayle, Apple Valley, UTDouglas Reynolds, Cedar City, UT

Stephen and Nicola Dahl, Kanab, UTBecca Lieberg, Springdale, UT

Julie Hancock, Virgin, UTFred Armstrong, Springdale, UT

Stefan Salomonsson, Torna-Hallestad, SwedenDr. William Cochrane, Camperdown, Victoria , Australia

Carolyn Jones, Larkspur, CO

New Life MembersMikel Stevens, Orem, UT

Pandora Wilson, Arvada, COBarbara Bentzin & Bob Montgomery, Casper, WY

Paula Fornwalt, Fort Collins, CO


American Penstemon SocietyMembership Renewal

The American Penstemon Society involves about 300 penstemon aficionados world-wide. Many will enjoy traveling to Northern California for our annual meeting in the Spring of 2015 and meeting other members while finding new penstemon species. Membership will bring you our newsletter (with a notice sent to our members electronically and posted on our website), a 50-80 page annual bulletin and the annual seed exchange. Dues run on a calendar basis, renewed at the first of each year.

You may pay either by check or by PayPal on our website at www.apsdev.org. Make checks payable to American Penstemon Society. Mail to:

Dale Lindgren/Phoebe McFarlane, Membership Secretaries9202 Maloney Drive, North Platte, NE 69101

If you wish to contact Dale Lindgren and/or Phoebe McFarlane with questions about your membership they can be reached at [email protected]. Please update any current information with new phone numbers or e-mail address. Thanks for your enthusiastic support of the Society.

Name ________________________________________________________________

Address _______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Phone # ______________________________________________________________

E-Mail ________________________________________________________________

We do not sell, share or distribute member data in any manner.

If you have changed your e-mail address lately, please send this information to the Membership Chairmen at [email protected]. Thank you.

US and Canadian annual dues are $15: US; Elsewhere:$20 US. Annual dues for students: $5. Life Membership: $150. In addition, members may pay two years in advance and receive the third year free. Please do not send cash.

http://www.apsdev.org

mailto:aps.membership%40yahoo.com?subject=APS%20Membership

mailto:aps.membership%40yahoo.com?subject=APS%20Membership


Reminder from the SeedEX

by Louise Parsons

The full swing of summer means that penstemon seeds are ripening. Our seed exchange depends upon donors. We are extremely fortunate to have a faithful group. However newcomers are always welcome. Although the deadline of December 1, 2014 seems far off, please think of your highly-appreciative penstemon friends. Seed cap-sules are now turning brown and splitting open. When individual capsule stems are dry and hard, seed capsules can be carefully clipped-off with florist scissors, even if por-tions of a plant are still producing bloom. These scissors are especially useful for wild-collecting because breaking off mature stems can disturb an entire plant. Fortunate-ly only three species of penstemon are listed as Federally endangered. P. heydenii, pen-landii, and debilis are not to be collected in the wild. Additional species may be locally sensitive to collection. Try to collect from generous populations away from the edge of a species’ range. Local knowledge can be especially helpful.

We have some special requests. At the end I have provided a “desires” list, but want to make some special mentions here. Kim Shearer-Lattier is a graduate student working with penstemons at Oregon State University. She is seeking a source for a cul-tivar, ‘Flathead Lake’, that I have not seen in recent years. Naturally plants or cuttings would be best. If anyone knows of a source, please contact her at:

[email protected] anyone has seeds of ‘Flathead Lake’,

they would also be very welcome. Kim also is interested in a pent that has baffled many before her. She purchased a cultivar named ‘Ruby’, but believes that it might be ‘Schoenholzeri’. P. ‘Firebird’, a hum-mer of a pent growing in my garden, is very similar, with distinctive maroon calyxes. In

P. x’White Dasanthera’ (Photo Louise Parsons)

P. x’Firebird’ (Photo Louise Parsons)

mailto:Kim.Shearer-Lattier%40oregonstate.edu?subject=


eximeus very tallfasciculatusfendleriflavescensfrankliniifruticosus v. serratusgairdneri gibbensiigrinnelliihallii harbouri hartwegiiharvardiiheterodoxus (specific member

request)heterophyllus ‘Electric Blue’janishiaelabrosuslaricifoliusmoriahensisnanusnewberryi all formspallidusparryipapillatus

any case, all are splendid, rich reds and wonder-ful hummingbird lure. As typical of “big hybrids”, their heritage includes species that require some faithful summer water. Although they still require good drainage, they tolerate heavier, richer soil than many penstemons. If any of you have experi-ence with P. ‘Ruby’, do share your observations.

Intense winter cold yielded a special bonanza in my garden. My two white-flowered Dasantheras set good seed. One is P. ‘Crystal’, a Bruce Meyers hybrid that has been long-lived in a pot. Another is a husky offspring that I have tentatively-named ‘Chrystal’s Daughter’.

A reminder: I have a current USDA permit to import “small lots of seed”. Overseas members, who are encouraged to contribute seed, will need to obtain documents, special labels, and instructions from me well in advance of sending seed. Remem-ber that the seed must be sent directly to “my” im-

port station rather than to me directly. I can provide you with required mailing labels and a copy of my permit, and full instructions. Seed from overseas that is addressed to me directly experiences a de-lay. For those who are unfamiliar with the process, NARGS (North American Rock Garden Society) has excellent instructions on their website at:

https://www.nargs.org/small-lots-seedAs always smaller species remain quite popu-

lar. However variety is important. Any penstemon or closely-related species or hybrids from garden, and/or wild sources is welcome. Related species such as nothochelone, keckiella, and castilleja are very welcome. If your have any questions, ideas, or concerns, don’t hesitate to write: Louise Parsons <parsontATpeak.org> 1915 SE Stone St., Corval-lis, OR 97333-1832. Notes and experiences are always appreciated. Please permit me to pass them along to the newsletter to share with all members.

List of “desires” (Not all-inclusive)

alamosensis albomarginatusaridus attenuatus yellowauriberbisazureusbarbatus hyb. ex ‘Petit Bouquet’,

Schooley’s Yellow, Coralbarbatus, wild-collectedbarbatus x ‘Merlot’ (wine color)bicolor californicus, always in demand!cardinaliscaryi caespitosuscentranthifoliuscinicola pinkcyathophorusdavidsonii var. davidsoniidolius eatonii wilderiantherus, esp. dwarf form

parvuluspaysionorumpinifolius ‘Mango’ , yellow formsprocerus cream formspruinosus, esp. dwarf formpumilispurpusii rattaniirupicola, always in demandrostiflorussaxosorum scapoides strictiformissubserratusteucrioidesthurberitubaeflorustusharensisutahensisversicolorvirensvirgatus whiteKeckiella, all species, esp lemonii

https://www.nargs.org/small-lots-seed%20


Ghiglieri/Strickland Penstemon Trip PhotosHeres a link to Dennis’ [Ghiglieri] Flickr™ page with the photos of members during the 2014 Zion tour.

Click on https://www.flickr.com/photos/99804080@N00/sets/72157644484366830/Many thanks. We really enjoyed the annual get-together and all of the fabulous penstemons we were

able to see on the field trips!Rose Strickland

Ted Kipping, Hugh MacMillan, Mikel Stevens, Noel and Pat Holmgren enjoying the three penstemon site.

Tunnel through the Hoodoos, Bryce National Park, Utah. (Photo G. Maffitt)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/99804080%40N00/sets/72157644484366830/

gary monroe aps 2014 photographer of the year searching for...

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